Best of Britain

Well, its coming up to our 2 year anniversary in London, so we decided it was about time we unleashed the 'Britishness' that has slowly been developing within us. What better place to come out than 'Proms in the Park' - a true British traditional experience of singing and flag waving in Hyde Park.

In an unusual turn of events (befitting the unusual nature of the evening), London delivered a cracking evening, a rare event this summer - so the scene was set for a great night in the park. An added bonus and another fortunate twist of fate was that Uncle Bruce, a finely tuned singing machine, was in town... so conditions were therefore perfect as we lined up with 39,997 others in orderly fashion - being British, we would have it no other way.

Before we knew it, we were in - and as we popped our bubbles and poured ourselves a glass each, we were informed by friends that we had met up with, that unbeknownst to us, this was in fact a 'no glass event'. Despite much security, cueing and bag checking at the gate - our various glass objects had made it through..... very British... lots of fuss, but, fortunately for us, no real substance.

Its fair to say we all went into this night knowing very little about what we should expect. The real Proms were going on in the Royal Albert Hall nearby - the orchestra and singers performing for the well to do for the final time this year. And then there was us, and our 39,997 friends, spread out in Hyde Park soaking up the sultry tones of Bjorn Again - the world famous Abba revival band. Bruce showed initial promise here, and for a moment I thought we might have dance moves displayed, but in the end we settled for simple, but effective, flag waving - the Union Jack of course.

That is something not yet covered - you are no one at Proms in the Park unless you have a flag. Fortunately we had twigged to this and shrewdly purchased 2 Union Jacks on our way in. We therefore fitted in perfectly -however it did result in us being disowned by the kiwi friends we had met up with...... a small price to pay in the wider context of our display of British nationalism.

The night was characterised by good nibbles, nice wine (albeit contraband), great company and a significant amount of flag waving. The highlight for us all was the last half hour, where the traditional side of the Proms comes through. Flags waving and the crowd standing, we joined in and sung British classics such as Rule Britannia, Jerusalem, Auld Lang Syne and of course the National Anthem. Happy, happy times - and a defining moment in our British adventure.

In all seriousness, we had a great night - and it was great to be part of this tradition, which I gather has been going on for over 110 years now.........

Lake Como - Clooney country

With the non-existent summer drawing to an end in London - it was time for a dose of vitamin E before heading into Autumn. We arrived into Milan late on Friday night and with a slight sense of trepidation set off in our little rental, armed with TomTom, to the small village of Lezzeno on the shores of Lake Como in the north of Italy.

Apart from the obvious (the lake) Lake Como is probably best known for being host to George Clooney who has a house there. Ever since his arrival it has been a popular destination for woman to spend weekends Clooney spotting. Usually this activity is a woman only sport - but Michelle and Sel were kind enough to let Andrew and I tag along.

After a number of 'turn lefts', which were actually requests for me to 'turn right', we arrived at our destination. Despite the narrow winding roads which twist around the lakeside and through villages with old Italian houses forming the curb on either side of the road, a quick check revealed that we had managed to retain both wing mirrors - success!

Day 1 - on the set of Star Wars.............

We woke the next day - opened the curtains and stepped onto our small balcony. It looked across the lake which is surrounded by step mountains. It was a beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky, and we knew we were in for a great couple of days.

The view

As you know, we are of course huge sci-fi fanatics, so the other big draw card at Lake Como was Villa del Balbianello - which of course provided the backdrop of scenes in Star Wars Episode II. After a nice hard boiled egg (thanks Andrew), we ran to catch a boat across to Lenno, home to the villa. The vlla was built in 1787 by a Cardinal from Milan - he sounds like a bit of a dodgy guy, as he built a hidden passage from his dressing room and into the guest room.... hmm. Anyway - the villa changed hands a number of times - before its final owner, a famous Italian explorer purchased it. Following his death it was bequeathed to the State and it is now open to the public to explore its garden and tour the rooms of the villa, which are filled with furniture and collectibles he purchased at auction and on his travels. Although the prospect of looking around a garden didn't really light our fires before we arrived here, it was an interesting spot and garden and villa were pretty incredible.

Villa del Balbianello

After a short spell spent rehydrating with a cold beer in the sun, we again jumped on a boat - this time to Bellagio - the main tourist town on Lake Como. Bellagio is filled with cafes and restaurants, art and craft shops and the other sorts of things you would expect in such a place. It was fairly pretty and an easy place to kill a few hours wandering round.

Dinner on the balcony

Dinner was to be had at a restaurant near Bellagio. After a 20 minute walk we stumbled upon it - sitting on the water's edge in a quiet village it looked like the perfect spot for dinner. Unfortunately, while you could not fault the vista from the restaurant - the staff were probably the rudest we had ever encountered. We didn't let this get us down though and before long we had given up trying to befriend them and decided to enjoy and be bewildered by their complete lack of interest in making our time there enjoyable. The food was pretty good though - and we embraced our outdoor lakeside location by trying fish from the lake in all shapes and forms - big ones, small ones, salted, dried, fried, grilled... you name it.

Day two - The paddle-steamer

We awoke again to another beautiful day and set off across the lake again - this time on a genuine paddle-steamer. Andrew and I were clearly showing too much interest the the inner workings of the ship and before long we had been invited down a small ladder into the bowels of the ship and into the heart of the engine. It was scorching down there, with four jets of fire providing the heat to keep the boat steaming along. The crew can't see what is going on above, but the captain provides instructions via a brass listening funnel. After a few photos and time spent with our new friend, we rejoined the rest of the passengers and relayed our experience over a freshly brewed coffee. I guess this was the historic equivalent of being invited to sit with the captain on a 747 nowadays.

After a brief stop in another of the lakeside villages we headed to Varenna - in search of a picnic lunch. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turned out), we couldn't pull together a picnic - so ended up at a lakeside restaurant (Milug Bar?). We had a fantastic meal here, washed down with a glass of local white wine - Yum! Varenna was a really pretty little village - probably our favourite of the villages we visited.

Varenna

The afternoon was spent lazing on our sun deck down by the lake. The locals were wake boarding and skiing and it was very reminiscent of summer afternoons up at the lakes in the old days in NZ. While we didn't try our hand at skiing, we did manage a couple of swims in between sunbathing, and the water, although crisp on entry was beautiful once you were in. After a few drinks we enjoyed dinner at our hotel restaurant (again overlooking the lake).

The sun deck, with restaurant and hotel in background

Day 3 - a lakeside picnic

Our last day, so we set off for Milan but with a stop in Como - the main town of the lake. Unfortunately most of the shops were shut, but we did some window shopping and managed to find a supermarket to get some stuff for a lakeside picnic. We found a nice spot on a ledge by the lake and with the company of the nearby local drunks, enjoyed our snacks in the sun. We had a slight incident when the lake decided to join us (due to the wake of a passing boat), but fortunately the sun dried us out in no time!

We managed to get back to Milan without incident and this trip reinforced Italy's status as a favourite travel destination for us.